In partnership with Boeing, the Seattle Sounders established “Change Champions,” an initiative that highlights local organizations and the impact they have in their communities.
Prior to the August 16 match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, the club honored Food Lifeline, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting those that are experiencing hunger in Western Washington.
"We’re proud to select Food Lifeline as a Change Champion,” said Senior Manager of Boeing Global Engagement - Northwest Region Gina Breukleman. “Their work ensures families across Western Washington have reliable access to nourishing food, strengthening community health and stability that matters to our employees, our neighbors, and the region’s future."
Since 1979, Food Lifeline’s mission has been to feed people experiencing hunger today, while working to end hunger for tomorrow. Within 17 counties, their focus is on increasing access to food for their local communities by securing large quantities of donations and providing that out to a network of over 300 partner neighborhood organizations across the region. Long term, the goal is to build a food secure region and a food secure state.
“We have a new four-year strategic plan,” said Food Lifeline’s President and CEO Stephen Davis. “We focus on network resilience. One of our pillars is providing training to that network, providing some grant making to the network, [and] providing areas where we're creating the space for the network to learn from each other.”
Equitable access is also something they take into consideration. The level of food insecurity across those 17 counties can look different, so the organization thinks about ways to advocate for certain areas based on their specific needs.
“Our work in King County may need to look different than it does in San Juan or Island County or Grace Harbor County, and so making sure that we think through that to ensure that there's equity in how we distribute resources,” said Davis.
In 2025 alone, the non-profit distributed over 75 million pounds of food, with 40% of it being produce. They provide an abundance of fresh, high-quality products that ensure high nutritional value, in addition to being culturally relevant and highly desirable through the help of surveys taken by the local communities.
The hope is that with the implementation of policies at the city, state and federal level, their mission can rise to its full potential of having permanent solutions for hunger.
“Public policy in general is the most powerful force in the long run that shapes hunger and health outcomes,” said Davis. “So certainly from a food insecurity perspective, but just in general, you know the reality is, whether it's local, state, or federal policies, they can either help ensure that individuals have greater access to food, or policies can pull that back.”
That, combined with advocacy efforts from outside resources, can make way for a future without food-insecurity. From volunteering, donating online, dropping off food, or using your voice to let officials know what it means to you that people have the food they need, any sort of step toward supporting Food Lifeline goes a long way.
“We definitely need the support and want the support,” said Davis.
